Author and photographer Phil Cope takes
the reader on a journey through the sacred wells of Wales from the Anglesey to
the Gwent. He discovers wells in city centres and, quite literally,
in the middle of nowhere – on mountainsides, in deserted valleys, on the coast,
in sea caves. They include healing wells, cursing wells, and wells named for
saints, Satan, witches, angels, fairies, friars, nuns, hermits, murderers and
hangmen. His stunning, atmospheric photographs are accompanied by folk
tales, myths and legends, conversations with well-keepers and poems inspired by
Welsh wells.
Wales has an abundance of wells both in
the natural state and domesticated for private or civic use. Published in
conjunction with the Keep Wales Tidy Living Wells project, The Living Wells of Wales is a guide
to historic sites important to Welsh identity which have been
hidden and neglected in town and countryside, and which now have new life as a
result of the project. Packed with colour photographs, including some of
long-forgotten wells now rediscovered, The
Living Wells of Wales is the new definitive volume on a subject gaining a
new popularity.
The
Living Wells of Wales is a new title in the Holy Wells
series, and is preceded by volumes on Scotland, Cornwall and the Borderlands.